…

Wait a second. All these “green” people don’t want us to change the earth from its natural state, correct? If that is correct then you must all be hypocrites. That’s right, I said wrote it, hypocrites. Your first reaction, “No! I am not a hypocrite! I buy only green things! My carbon footprint is -50! Al Gore is God!” Okay, so you probably didn’t do the last sentence. Why am I calling these “green” people hypocrites? Let me ask a few questions:

Do these “green” people own:

-Cell Phones? Check.

-Computers? Check.

-Automobiles? Check!

=iPods/Portable Meda Devices? Check!

-Televisions? Check!

-Microwaves? Well Check and is this list through yet?

-Disposable diapars? Check, for any parents in the last… 20 or so years.

Hypocrites.

Being “green” is the latest fad. It’s not a cultural movement, it’s just hip to be green. If you’re not, you’re ostracised, called ignorant, called stupid, called almost any name in the book. They still drive their automobiles, they still use their cell phones, they still use electricity. What would being truly “green” mean?

First, use nothing disposable, nothing manufactured, not even clothes. Even if it was handmade, at some point down the line some part of it came out of a factory somewhere, came by truck to a store and you bought it. The closest people to being “green” would probably be the Amish people. Still, even they aren’t truly “green.”

They change the earth, they build houses, build fences, and subjugate animals. No one is truly green because if they were, they would die pretty soon. Even by walking, even by eating, you are changing an ever changing environment. You seek the self-satisfaction of saying, “Well, I’m ‘green’, my actions don’t hurt the environment! You’re not green, yours do! You’re ruining our beautiful planet and all the fish in the sea will die and we will stop breathing air and fish will lay dead in the water with an ‘X’ for an eye, breathing out smog. That’s what that cartoon thingy said.”

Don’t you see? Whatever side you’re on, the environment will change, we change it with every step we walk, every breath we draw into our lungs, even when we blink. (We move the natrual air molecules that shouldn’t be moved!) I’m sick of this. I call you “green” thumbs’ bluff. You can’t go truly “green,” it’s impossible. Now excuse me while I go about believing that there is enough doubt cast upon manmade global warming to warrant not believing in it. I know, heresy, right? Chase out the nonbeliever. Wake me when the fad is over.

1. Why Isn’t There Any Heat On “Big Pharma?”

Big Pharma has profit ratings higher than even those of Microsoft and charge more and more for our prescriptions, but no one is going after them in this healthcare debacle going on in Washington.

2. Review of NCSoft’s “Aion”

Including screenshots and how I feel about the game.

3. What I Would Agree to be the Best MMORPG Concept?

Title is self explanatory.

4. Review of Image-Line’s FL Studio 9

(I may try to get this one out today.) Image-Line has released the newest version of what was formerly called “Fruity Loops,” but lately has been sporting the title “FL Studio.”

If you guys were missing me, look out. Destiny in Technology is back!

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Aetna Inc. (AET):

• Revenue: $32.67 Billion
• Gross Profit: $8.23 Billion

Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (UNH):

• Revenue: $84.27 Billion
• Gross Profit: $6.24 Billion

Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC):

• Revenue: $8.89 Billion
• Gross Profit: $4.85 Billion

Man! These insurance companies are making such an obscene amount of profits! Let’s have at ‘em boys! Burn ‘em to the ground! We’ll show these brutes what’s coming to them for profiting on our misery!

…

Wait a second. That’s all gross profit. Sort of like, when you get your check, you have gross income before all the taxes, social security, etc gets taken out. What we really get in our pocket is our net income. To really see how much these companies make, and their real profit margins we need to use their net profit figure. Sadly, Yahoo! Finance doesn’t include that figure. However, they do include the true profit margin figure. We can use that and the revenue figure to reverse the formula and find out just how much profit these companies really make. Then we’ll compare them to Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Exxon.

Okay, the formula that you derive the profit margin from is:

Profit margin = (net profit/revenue) * 100

…Net profit is equal to the gross profit minus overheads minus interest payable plus/minus one off items for a given time period…

Source: Wikipedia and probably your macroeconomics textbook

So, when we have the profit margin and the revenue figures, we can reverse that formula to find their net profit. That formula would be netprofit = (profit margin (with percentage as decimal, aka 4.3% is .043)*revenue)

So, let’s plug in our healthcare companies, shall we?

Aetna Inc. (AET):

• Revenue: $32.67 Billion
• Profit Margin: 3.85%
• Net Profit: $1,257,795,000

Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (UNH):

• Revenue: $84.27 Billion
• Profit Margin: 4.14%
• Net Profit: $3,488,778,000

Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC):

• Revenue: $8.89 Billion
• Profit Margin: 2.63%
• Net Profit: $233,807,000

So two of the healthcare insurance companies have broken the billion dollar mark the other makes a quarter billion. Even that is not so obscene in my opinion. Also, keep in mind that this net profit is after everyone has been paid, after corporate taxes, interest payments, etc. This money is used how the company sees fit. Now, let’s move on to Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Exxon.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT):

• Revenue: $404.91 Billion
• Gross Profit: $99.45 Billion
• Profit Margin: 3.31%
• Net Profit: $13,402,521,000

So, Wal-Mart makes as much as about eleven Aetnas and around four Unitedhealth Group, Inc. Puts a bit of perspective on it.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT):

• Revenue: $58.44 Billion
• Gross Profit: $46.28 Billion
• Profit Margin: 24.93%
• Net Profit: $14,569,092,000

Kind of interesting how much the profit margins change the net profit figures, isn’t it?
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM):

• Revenue: $346.88 Billion
• Gross Profit: $188.55 Billion
• Profit Margin: 8.98%
• Net Profit: $311,498,240,000

If you want obscene profits, take a look at that. Three hundred eleven billion. For good measure, and so Steve Jobs doesn’t feel left out, let’s look at Apple. Then, to see if Google is really doing no evil, let’s look at them as well!

Apple Inc. (AAPL):

• Revenue: $34.56 Billion
• Gross Profit: $11.15 Billion
• Profit Margin: 14.97%
• Net Profit: $5,173,632,000

Google Inc. (GOOG):

• Revenue: $22.27 Billion
• Gross Profit: $13.17 Billion
• Profit Margin: 20.56%
• Net Profit: $4,578,712,000

Originally, this post ended here and thanks to a commentator named “Rob” I found out I had made a mistake with my figuring. Details of my original error in the comments. Anyways, I have decided to add a couple more companies. Big pharma anyone? Let’s take a look at four of the biggest pharmaceutical companies here in the United States. We’ll look at Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Originally, I was going to use only three companies, but I though Johnson & Johnson might be a bit of an outlier in this category as they do make more than just pharmaceutical things (eg. shampoo, etc). Anyways, here we go.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE):

• Revenue: $46.17 Billion
• Gross Profit: 40.18 Billion
• Profit Margin: 16.32%
• Net Profit: $7,534,944,000

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ):

• Revenue: $61.37 Billion
• Gross Profit: $45.24 Billion
• Profit Margin: 20.76%
• Net Profit: $12,740,412,000

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK):

• Revenue: $23.26 Billion
• Gross Profit: $18.27 Billion
• Profit Margin: 24.59%
• Net Profit: $5,719,634,000

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY):

• Revenue: $20.90 Billion
• Gross Profit: $14.20 Billion
• Profit Margin: 26.04%
• Net Profit: $5,442,360,000

So, casting aside the Johnson & Johnson outlier (as I figured it would be), these pharmas have better profit margins than most of the other companies. In fact, the companies with the lowest profit margin that I’ve listed are the healthcare insurers.  So now that I’ve bombarded you with figures. Are the healthcare companies really making that obscene of a profit? Are they really holding a golden, ruby encrusted dagger to your throat and saying, “You give me money, or you no get better!”? I don’t mind if you check my math because if I’ve gotten it wrong, let me know so I can correct the figures (big thanks to Rob). Mainly since working with rather large numbers, leaving a zero out can be devistating. Anyways, comments and debate are welcome. However, keep in mind this is about healthcare, not Windows vs Mac. Again, all my figures I looked up on Yahoo! Finance. Also, I already have an idea about doing one more article on this issue of healthcare. I do believe I’m going to try to get the phone numbers of the CEOs of these companies and ask them what most of their net profits fund. Still, the profit margins for all three of the health insurers I looked at are less than 4.5%. Take what you want from this data. If I stimulate debate, that’s a good thing. I want to stimulate debate because without it, we know nothing. Without debate, we remain woefully unaware of the other side of the coin.

Again, thanks to Rob for letting me know about the errors in my arithmetic. The numbers are updated and even an extra section added. Comments are welcomed.

Company A makes a fantastic new product. Company B makes a similar product, but cheaper and of less quality. Company A markets much better than Company B and drives Company B out of existence. Company C-Z had designs for these products, but seeing the advantage Company A has decides not to make them. Company A notices that they’re the only people in the market with this product and decide to increase the cost of the product. They increase the price slowly so that people don’t panic and force another company to join in on the market. You would agree, that while this scenario is unlikely as in every market there are alternatives for almost any device it is what we call a monopoly. Boo! Hiss! We don’t like big corporation monopolies! Okay, so we have determined that if there are no other competing products, the sole producer of the product will increase the cost of their product.

Okay, well healthcare is a market, believe it or not. Currently, there is competition. If you provide very bad service, you don’t get paid, you die out in the current market. Now, let’s think of single payer, government provided health care. Sounds great and dandy, everybody banding together to help pay for everyone’s health! It sounds downright heroic! However, think back to our monopoly. Government becomes the only provider of healthcare. When there’s only one provider, costs increase as competition is strangled. Healthcare costs increase. As far back as 1993, Canada’s health care costs were increasing at a faster rate than costs here in the United States.

Canadians are proud of a system that generally provides good medical care to all its citizens at a lower cost than in the United States — averaging 1,915 American dollars per person in 1991, the latest year for which figures are available, compared with $2,868 in the United States. But spending in recent years has grown nearly as fast as in the United States, and is outstripping the ability of the public sector to pay.

Despite new efforts to control costs, from cutbacks in covered services to caps on doctors’ fees and hospital budgets, “revenues in the public sector are not increasing fast enough,” said Bill Tholl, director of health policy at the Canadian Medical Association.

Aggravating the financial distress has been Canada’s most painful recession since the Great Depression, which has compressed tax receipts and cut federal transfer payments to the 10 provinces and 2 territories, which actually run the health system for 27 million Canadians.

Source: New York Times

If the Canadians were having trouble with funds as far back as 1993, how can the United States in 2009 hope to aggregate enough tax revenue to pay for healthcare for all?

Another country hailed as having supposedly the best healthcare in the world is France.  This week I heard of a pregnant French woman who had to get the local fire brigade to take her to a hospital in a town thirty miles from her village because the hospital in her village was shut down to help control skyrocketing costs in France’s Universal Health Care System. Sadly, I do not have a source for this. For once, Google has failed me. I digress.

As Michael Moore and the World Health Organization were heralding French healthcare, one professor, a Frenchman by the name of Alice Teil claimed that ” the French system is “not sustainable anymore,” but copying parts of America’s could save it.” (Source: NewsBusters)

“It’s true we really have good access, but what if the system is not sustainable anymore?” says Teil. “It’s going to break. It’s going to blow. And then no more accessibility for anybody.”

…

Tiel says the cost of France’s socialized healthcare is growing faster than its economy. Workers pay about fifty percent of their paycheck each month into healthcare, retirement and unemployment and more companies are outsourcing jobs to avoid those costs. Quality of care also suffers in France, says Teil, because hospitals and doctors resist government requirements to report their success and failures.

Source: NewsBusters

Say what you may about me, but I would be appalled at having to pay about fifty percent of my paycheck each month into healthcare. I wouldn’t be able to live! I wouldn’t be able to pay for an apartment, nor electricity, nor food. I guess the way to fix that would be to tax more and have the government provide all that. Excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap.

One other country has gotten applause for its Universal Healthcare System. This country has many names; you know it by at least two names: England and Great Britain. Now, Great Britain has one of the oldest systems if memory serves correctly. Now, if you have cancer in Great Britain, do you stay in Great Britain or do you come to the United States for treatment? Capitalism Magazine explains:

Among women with breast cancer, for example, there’s a 46 percent chance of dying from it in Britain, versus a 25 percent chance in the United States. “Britain has one of worst survival rates in the advanced world,” writes Bartholomew, “and America has the best.”

If you’re a man diagnosed with prostate cancer, you have a 57 percent chance of it killing you in Britain. In the United States, the chance of dying drops to 19 percent. Again, reports Bartholomew, “Britain is at the bottom of the class and America is at the top.”

Explains Bartolomew: “That is why those who are rich enough often go to America, leaving behind even private British healthcare.” The reason isn’t that we sue more in America, and scare doctors into efficiency, or that our medical schools are better. It’s more simple than that. “In America, you are more likely to be treated,” writes Bartholomew, “and going back a stage further, you are more likely to get the diagnostic tests which lead to better treatment.”

What about medical equipment, how is that in Great Britain? Again Capitalism Magazine explains:

On the availability of equipment, explains Bartholomew, Britain has only half as many CT scanners per million people as the United States, and half as many MRI scanners. With lithotripsy units for treating kidney stones, the United States has more than seven times the availability per million of population than Britain.

Not only is the British equipment in short supply, but much of what’s there should be loaded up and carted off to the nearest scrap dump. An audit by the World Health Organization, for instance, found that over half of Britain’s x-ray machines were past their recommended safe time limit, and more than half the machines in anesthesiology required replacing. “Even the majority of operating tables were over 20 years old — double their life span,” reports Bartholomew.

What about those pesky wait times? Once again, Capitalism Magazine explains:

On how things worked in an individual case, Bartholomew writes of Peggy, an American radiologist, who went to Britain to meet her English boyfriend’s family. While she was there, her boyfriend’s father found blood in his urine and went to a local National Health Service hospital in which no CT scans or cystoscopy tests were done. The patient had asthma and laid in his hospital bed with breathing difficulties but still didn’t see a specialist. He was told it would take six weeks. Short of the six weeks, he was discharged from the hospital. Back home, before his appointment with a consultant came up, he died of an asthma attack.

Bartholomew reports that Peggy was “surprised at how ‘accepting’ her boyfriend’s family was.” What she saw was an unexpected passivity, a lethal submissiveness to systemic incompetence and tragedy, a reaction that seemed poles apart from how things happen in the United States. Explains Bartolomew: “She didn’t say too much because she did not want to come across as a pushy, arrogant American but she was thinking that ‘in America we’d go nuts if we were told we would have to wait six weeks to see a specialist. Expectations are so much higher.’”

I agree, I would become very upset if I had to wait six weeks to see a specialist.

Now for the so-called “Public Option”. Honestly, my opinion on it is that it’s like Company A in the monopoly story. It will push all others out of the market, much like the United States Postal Service has pushed all other letter carriers (we don’t send letters via UPS and FedEx, do we?) out of business. If we truly want to fix healthcare, push for tort reform. Make it harder for people to frivolously sue doctors. Think of the massive amount of people employed by private insurers. I also offer one more piece of advice. Stop reading here if the alternate word for donkey (ironic given what political party it represents) offends you.

“Stop asking the government to wipe your ass for you and learn to do it for yourself!”

Last week sometime, I got an e-mail from Funcom that stated my character was “missing me”. Exactly whom a dark templar would miss other than a body to slice defies all logic, but I digress. They promised they had made vast improvements in the game since launch (which makes sense, after a year of release). I thought, why not, and did the free two weeks and even paid for a month so I could really get a feel for the game. Since my first venture with this game, my hardware has improved to a GTX 260 core 216. Needless to say, the game is still very pretty. People stuck on Direct X 9 will even note how pretty it is. There are a couple new options with the Direct X 10, including “realistic grass” which replaces the default spinny billboard grass. However, a lot of the other vegetation is still billboardy, but overall, the game is very pretty. If you can stand to only get 20 fps, crank it as much as you can and get at least that many fps. You’ll really enjoy it.

Now it does still have a few glitches, but they’re not game breakable. They can be a bit irritating, though. For instance, if you’re the first to populate your guild’s city instance, the buildings will build around you and may cause your sound to disappear. Overall, if you enjoyed the game but left due to technical reasons, you’ve got two days (offer expires on the 22nd) to claim your free two weeks. Try it for the two weeks and if you enjoy it, keep playing. Look up Andreius on the Cimmeria RP-PvP server if you’re interested.

Starting from when I sat down in the theater and nearly exclaimed as I thought I had broken the chair (new theater, the chairs lean back on will, moreso than most chairs people use for PCs, which took me for surprise as I expected the back of the seat not to move) and waited twenty or so minutes for the movie to start. My friend and I decided to get there twenty or so minutes in advance so that we could get a decent seat. We got decent ones, but they were towards the front, the back half of the theater was stuffed to the brim with people. More good news, some other friends of mine had actually chosen the same showing to go to so we all sat together. Going to the movies alone is dull and unrewarding in my opinion, so I try to always go with at least one person.

I refrain from buying concessions as they wanted $3.50 for a (probably 20 ounce) bottle of water and $4.00 for a large soda. I had eaten before I came though, I was rather thirsty by the end of the two and a half hour trek Finally, after twenty minutes of waiting the advertisements started to roll with very few seats left empty. This was a 9:55 PM showing, the 6:45 PM, 7:30 PM, and 8:00 PM showings were all sold out. I also thought to myself watching these advertisements, “I paid $5.00 (yay college student discounts) for this ticket, why are we getting advertisements before we watch the movie. I mean, don’t they get enough from overpricing their concessions?” As a comparison, the prices at the local high school’s football games (I know them because I work them some Friday nights because, strangely, I enjoy helping out the Band Boosters) we sell water (20 oz) for $2.00, and soda (20 oz) for $2.50. Actually, nothing on that menu is more than $3.00 (from when you add both chili and cheese to a hotdog, it comes to $3.00), which includes popcorn, hot dogs, frito chili pie, etc. Sorry, I digress.

First off, if you haven’t read the books, you’ll find absolutely nothing wrong with the movie and will be leaping at the chain to get your beady eyes on the seventh movie. However, if you were upset at the second movie for leaving out Nearly Headless Nick’s Dethday Deathday Party (sorry I for some reason had Dethklok on the mind) you’ll be annoyed by one of the biggest differences in this movie from the book. The “Hey! Let’s blow up the Burrow on Christmas Eve!” scene where Fenrir and Belatrix set fire to the Weasley house and ultimately destroy it just seemed kind of random to me. It also made several things that happen at that setting in the seventh book unlikely to be at that location (if they’re not omitted) in the seventh and eigth movie. Also, they left out Bill (older Weasley brother) and Fleur (the woman participant in the TriWiz) completely. Also, Charlie (another older Weasley brother) is no where to be seen either. That was the only thing that really irked me. Still, leaving out the meeting between the new Minister of Magic and the Muggle Minister was kind of surprising. Heck, from watching the movie, you wouldn’t know there was a new minister in this one.

At the beginning there is a CGI sequence of a bridge being destroyed. However, if you watch the bridge when it falls, there’s no one on it except for people at the ends running off of it. Then it shows you a headline that says something about the death toll rising and a picture of where the bridge used to be. I saw no one die on that bridge, but well that is CGI for you. They also got several events backwards and changed whom discovers a certain room.

Certainly, I enjoyed the movie as I try not to be overly critical of book to movie films. By far the worst movie adaption of a book that I’ve seen was Eragon. To be honest though, I believe that I’ll wait for the seventh film to come out on DVD, buy it and then wait until the day that I’m going to see the eigth one and watch it before going to the film so that to me it will be one long film instead of a film that really wont be able to have much of an ending. Also, if you are a big fan of the movies and you haven’t read the books, go contribute to J.K. Rowling’s massive retirement fund (thank you Fort for that comment) by buying and then reading the books. Trust me, you’ll be glad that you did. There are several things the movies can’t incorporate and will be a shame if you don’t get to know about them. You obviously can read if you’re reading this right now, so do it. I guess you could also pick up audiotapes, but nothing beats a good hardback book. I recommend getting them in hardback because you’ll probably read them again and again. Plus, they’ll fill up that bit of open bookshelf you have lying around.

However, if you take a look at the “Bird’s Eye View” in Bing, you’ll notice it’s at the intersection before the Whataburger. With Google, it places the location marker at the intersection where a gas station is. I’m sure the directions for both sites will get me there as well, it’s hard to miss a giant orange and white building. Though for searches for buildings that don’t stand out as much it could be a bad omen for Google.

I hadn’t really paid much attention to Bing as I’m using Google Chrome as my browser. However, I may start using Bing more often if it’s this much more accurate on maps than Google.

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The song I’ve done a dance remix for is “Canon in D Major” by Johanne Pachelbel. I was inspired to make it when I noticed that Dragonforce has an obsession with the progression used by Pachelbel’s Canon. It made me remember Rob Paravonian’s Pachelbel Rant. I decided, “You know, I should make a dance remix of it.” So, I did. It actually took less time than some of my previous projects. I’d like some feedback on it. I hope you like it because I enjoyed making it.

Download swordofdestiny - Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major

[tags]Charles Lee Johnson, Asbestos, Owens Corning, fiberglass, Help[/tags]

Anyways, I think my favorite animes are essentially (not in any particular order) Bleach, Naruto, Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star, and Black Blood Brothers. Right now Black Blood Brothers isn’t licensed by any American company, so if you have a mind for it, google it and you should be able to watch it. I think it’s also on YouTube.

Bleach is a great anime, until it gets into the filler, but at episode 114 or 115 (I can’t remember which), the filler stops (horrible filler arc) and it picks back up right after the soul society arc in the manga.

Naruto is pretty much just like the manga, but at some point (I don’t remember when) it starts filler, the filler is tolerable, but unnecessary to the story, basically you can skip right through it. Now they have started Naruto Shippuuden for the first three weeks it was weekly, but now it’s going to be every two weeks. Some people are upset about it; honestly, I’m not because that shows that the animators are doing their best not to catch up to the manga because if they catch up with the manga, you get… Incognito (see the Hellsing anime series [the first one, not ultimate]).

Ah, the Tenchi Muyo series, what a great series it was, and honestly it has one of the best dubs; I actually prefer the dub because one of the Japanese voice actors hurts my ears. There are three different Tenchi OVAs (four if you count the television series). Tenchi is a really great anime and I would recommend it to anyone. Only thing is in the actual Tenchi Muyo OVA (not Tenchi Muyo TV!) there is some nudity, which is actually socially acceptable in Japan. Our romance novels are their romance manga (I don’t read either nor do I watch anime based on it, other than if you count Love Hina, but that’s more comedy than romance).

Outlaw Star was probably my third or fourth anime. It also has a really good dub. It’s spacey, so it’s right up my alley. When I saw it on Cartoon Network (as I was little and didn’t have the Internet), it left off one episode, “Hot Springs Planet Tenrei.” Well when I got the box set, I saw why. Aisha in half frontal nudity (shows her breasts, but nothing below her belly).

If you notice though, the music that goes with an anime can make or break it. The anime is only moving manga other than the music. The music brings it more to life. Most of the time a good OST is going to indicate a good anime. That’s it for my ranting and raving tonight, or rather, this morning.

[tags]bleach, naruto, tenchi muyo, outlaw star, hellsing, A-Kon[/tags]

What exactly is the State of Texas accomplishing with the TAKS test? Nothing but encouraging the programming of students instead of teaching. So some students don’t care about school, fine let them be left behind. Instead of helping education, “No child left behind” is crippling it more than helping. Some schools to get their students to actually want to pass are essentially bribing their students. For example, Waxahachie High School is offering an off period to Sophomores who pass all sections of the TAKS (English Language Arts [ELA henceforth], Math, Science, History). Then to both Sophomores and Juniors who pass all sections, four free 100 test grades in each class. And if that wasn’t enough if a student passes all sections of the TAKS and is placed in In-school suspension (ISS henceforth) one time, that ISS doesn’t keep them from being ineligible for exemptions of final exams. Back to the free 100 test grades. What this does in Pre-AP, AP, and DC classes is slash the range of grades. The students with A’s are barely helped at all, while students with low C’s are pushed up to high B’s. The TAKS test is the culprit! I say abolish the TAKS test! Abolish it! Standardized tests required to graduate are NOT the way to test whether students have actually been taught. It’s turned Texas education into programming instead of actual teaching! It should be stopped! Oh and on top of all that, the grading procedure for the short answer section of the ELA can pass or fail you. They say they reward insight and good analysis, but the masters of analysis, AP students, tend to do the WORST on that particular section. What happens if you are deathly ill on test day? Ha! You are either placed into TAKS remediation classes the next year OR you have to take it again during the summer. TAKS FAILS! The very ESSENCE of the TAKS test is a pile of horrible rubbish. The only section that is even competent is the math section because you can’t botch up answers on that, it’s either right or it’s left, I mean wrong. On other sections such as Science they’ll have questions where the answer CAN’T be one of the answers given, or two of the answers are so similar that you have essentially a 50/50 chance of getting it right even if you know science like the back of your hand. And then there are the questions on almost all sections that the answers are essentially given in the question. Some students still miss those. State of Texas, your TAKS test is FAIL to the nth power!

[tags]TAKS, haha, joke, fail, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills[/tags]

The e-scapists are people who normally have little to no friends offline and their whole life revolves around the Internet and their computer. They can be found in chatrooms, games, forums, instant messengers, etc. Their number is on the rise. You have some who are the more socialites who say stuff like, “The world hates me,” so that they can be the center of attention. Some people who are in this group however are online because the Internet is the only place they can find that they can fit in or be what they wish they could be in their offline world. These people can be very friendly, but some can be quite frightening. The more frightening ones tend to take everything seriously and tend to lash out at people who speak against them. They tend to hold grudges and think people who may be joking around actually hate them. They tend to seem to be bipolar because they can change their mood almost instantly. One minute they’ll hate you and then the next, they’ll have forgotten what you say, unless it really really made them angry. And if they do forget, expect that eventually, in the future they’ll randomly remember it and try to take vengeance upon them.

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Hmm.. well… I wrote that above this because I believe that I’m an e-scapist on the more frightening side. I honestly take things so seriously to the point that I’ve cried because I thought I lost online friends or that people really hated me. It’s hard not to take things seriously, but I’m trying. My prognosis is not good, but meh, if they can’t like me for me, why should I care? Now I wanna hear, “Third Eye Blind - She Likes Me For Me”. OH and for those of you who don’t know, I swordofdestiny DJ for www.PowerFrag.FM every Monday night from 8-10 pm EST. My genre ranges from dance/electronica all the way to punk, rock and I limit myself to ONE country song per set, and that’s normally either Alan Jackson - Farewell Party or David Allen Coe - You Never Even Called Me By My Name as my last song. Of course if it’s requested, I can break the country song limit.

[tags]escapism, confusion, internet[/tags]

[tags]swordofdestiny, sadness, dead dog[/tags]